Li Jun and the Iron Road

Little Tiger's father left for Canada years ago, never to be heard from again. When her dying mother sends Little Tiger to find him, she finds work on the Canadian railway, disguised as a man. Threatened by prejudice on all sides, Little Tiger's troubles reach a breaking point when the privileged son of a railway tycoon takes an interest in her.

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CCBC’s Best Books for Kids & Teens (Spring 2016) — Commended

From the award-winning movie comes a story of courage and forbidden love.

It’s 1882 in southern China. Li Jun, a feisty homeless girl disguised as a boy called Little Tiger, works in a fireworks factory and yearns to sail across the ocean to the mysterious Gold Mountain in faraway British Columbia to find her long-lost father and fulfill her promise to her dying mother.
She joins thousands of Chinese men blasting a path for the new railway through the “impassable” Rocky Mountains. There she faces danger, deceit, and prejudice at every turn. Then, defying all the rules, she falls in love with James, the son of the railway tycoon.
Should she reveal her true identity to him? Coming from such different worlds, could they make a life together?